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Topic: Does holding a Festool make you feel better? (Read 8562 times)

I once read an article on Diet Coke that asserted that Diet Coke was an "image enhancing" drink. That is, just holding a can of Diet Coke made you feel better about yourself. This was over and above any physical property of the drink - the taste, the calories, etc. The person who wrote the article was a marketing psychologist, and thought that Coke had achieved a major marketing coup - if people just hold a can of Diet Coke, they have better feelings about themselves. What a powerful marketing tool!

So my question (for people who own Festool tools) is, does holding a Festool make you feel better about yourself? That is, have the Festool marketing folks achieved a little of this marketing Nirvana with their brand, that just associating with the brand makes you feel better?

BTW, if the answer is yes, don't feel bad - I think overall that this is a pretty common marketing concept/objective.

The only way holding a Festool makes me feel better is if it does the job I am doing better than another brand tool. I have owned, used & sold a lot of Festool tools that I could not see a benefit in continuing to own them.

There is a certain confidence that my track saw will give me a beautiful, splinter free cut, that I do not have with my large cabinet saw. Also a confidence that my dominoes will line up perfectly that was definitely not there with hand cut mortise and tenons. So, in that respect, I enjoy my projects more than I did before I started drinking the green Kool Aid.

TCCC is the world's master of spin. Carbonated soft drinks are not good for you, so you need sell it by promoting it's image. The tobacco industry is another great example of this.

"Holding a Festool" is a better feeling than holding a cheap alternative of a similar tool, so in that sense it does make me feel better on a relative scale. Then there's the fact that (as long as I'm observing safely procedures) holding a Festool isn't bad for my health

Any tool that makes my work more effective and efficient makes me feel better...especially if it means getting paid faster. So, yup, love working my Festools.

Several of you have replied along these lines, but that's not really what the article was about. The article was about feeling good about being associated with the brand without having any conscious rationalization of why - at the end of a process. I think Charley1968 got it. We might start out with the brand for substantive reasons. In the case of Diet Coke, it might be because we are counting calories, while in the case of Festool it might be because of the quality or the system. And we might feel "good" about that. However, as we live with the "goodness" of the decision over time, our minds go straight to the good feeling about the tool, without thinking about the reasons. That good feeling associated with the brand then supports the feeling that we are "better" persons - e.g. it has enhanced our self image. By this point in the process we will reach for the Festool out of habit and it will make us feel better about ourselves just because it is in hand, without any conscious justification that it is a better tool. If we thought about it, we would still come up with the reasons why we liked it. At this point in the process, even if we found a better tool or experienced mild disappointment with the brand, the image enhancing feeling we get from the tool would persist.

Here is a more subtle scenario that illustrates the principle. Suppose a person switches to Diet Coke to reduce calories, but then eats two Snickers every day because they are hungry and continues to gain weight. They will still feel good about themselves when holding the Diet Coke, just because it has the words "Diet Coke" on the can, even though the diet Coke is not helping them reach their real objective.

So this is not some trick to get you to admit that you are making "bad" purchases because of the brand. Maybe, maybe not. There are really good reasons to buy Festool, depending on the tool and the needs. One of my practical takeaways is that I want to kick my reason in each time I buy, so that brand psychology does not overly influence the decision, and to try to be clear about objectives when buying the tool.

...Several of you have replied along these lines, but that's not really what the article was about. The article was about feeling good about being associated with the brand without having any conscious rationalization of why - at the end of a process. I think Charley1968 got it. ...

Hence the wank factor.

I feel that way about the ZetaP2. It is too cool, but its function is what is noteworthy. Still easy to love tool more than the function if it.

I have been a Festool user for somewhere around ten years - and a moderator here for more than seven years. I have written before that when I pull out a Festool tracksaw, or use a Rotex, or get into finish sanding with my ETS, or ... and I remember HOW I did this type of stuff prior and then I compare post Festool versus prior Festool - I definitely have a smile on my face.

That holds as true today as when I might have written one or more of those 10,000+ posts. There are game changing tools; there are application specific changing tools; there are niceties.

Everyone who is in the market to buy a tool produced by any manufacturer needs to evaluate their needs, wants, and expectations. I did the same thing. I could have sent tools back too. I usually buy tools on needs and when doing that I haven't been disappointed with my decision to purchase a tool - especially my Festools. But I will admit that I have bought a Festool product or two based on anticipated usage and then the usage didn't go to pass.only

I proudly will stop and talk to Festool to anyone. Not for any other reason than to expose them to possibilities of a tool that I knew not much about 10 years ago; but then my wife gave a Christmas present.

I love how often I see posts on the forum, from members with thousands of posts on the 'FESTOOL owners group', saying they hold no bias towards festool unless the tool is uniquely superior in its abilities etc etc. Like it's a crime to spend more money than absolutely necessary to complete said task. . .

I spend my entire working life using my tools day in day out - so a little joy/luxury/exotica in this department is thoroughly welcomed and enjoyed.

In answer to the OP - Yes, holding a festool does make me feel better. Partly because of the quality and the functionality and the system, but also because it's not the norm, because my sander/drill/router is not the same as the vast majority of carpenters out there. It's nice to feel just a little bit different.

When Matt LeBlanc was a guest on Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson asked him about modifying his Porsches, because that isn't done much in Europe (apparently). His answer was that anyone can go into a dealer and buy a 911, whether they have the passion or not. He said he loves cars so much that his should go a little faster.

Any yahoo can go into Hombre Depot and buy a Ridgid sander, and it will sand wood just fine. But my Festool sanders just feel better, and it puts a smile on my face.

When Matt LeBlanc was a guest on Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson asked him about modifying his Porsches, because that isn't done much in Europe (apparently).

Yes, most folk in Europe don't modify Porsches because (i) they are generally too fast for the average Porsche driver who buys them anyway (judging from the number I've scooped out of hedges, fields, etc in the years I drove a recovery truck out of hours) and (ii) if you want a faster one, Porsche generally has a faster model in their range. It just costs more.......

In terms of does holding Festool tools make me feel better, well, no it doesn't - holding the extra money I've made on a contract because it has taken me less time to complete, because I could leave the job with half the clean-up time and because of the accuracy of my work with little or no need to hand adjust - now that makes me happy! It also makes selling new acquisitions to the missus somewhat easier

Holding/using a finely made tool, watch, unmentionable, bicycle, etc enhances my pleasure. I know a cheap quartz watch keeps better time than a Rolex, but I prefer the Rolex. A DeWalt drill makes good holes, but I prefer my Festool drills because I enjoy their balance and fine engineering. There are two Festool products that really make me feel good using, Kapex and Domino. Kapex due to being able to use it inside and Domino because it greatly speeds my work.

I don't give a whit if anyone knows I wear Rolex watches, own very nice unmentionables, or own a bunch of Festool products.

Holding/using a finely made tool, watch, unmentionable, bicycle, etc enhances my pleasure. I know a cheap quartz watch keeps better time than a Rolex, but I prefer the Rolex.

It was only after I purchased a S&W stainless hand gun and my eyes were drawn to the fine line-to-line fitting of the cover plate that I decided to take up machining metals. Any piece of wood can be beaten into submission to conform to it's neighbor, but metal has to be machined to an exacting size and shape in order for there to be a precise line-to-line fit. That's the beauty of metalworking, it's the same thing with mechanical watches that need to be precisely machined to function properly...and more importantly, they need to perform their duty over many, many years. A Rolex will perform that task for 70 years plus...a Patek...not so much, she's more of a safe queen.

Thinking about this for a moment...the typical modern Rolex movement beats at 28,800 beats per hour, that means 691,200 beats per day, or 252,288,000 per year. So that's over 1/4 million cycles per year, I wonder if the DF 500 can hold out for that long? I sure hope so but I do have my doubts. And remember that Rolex advises watch tune ups every 6-8 years so that they feel that after 1.5 million cycles...the watch needs to be cleaned and serviced, any worn parts replaced and then returned to service for another 1.5-2 million cycles...maybe something Festool should consider.

I like holding a quality tool like Festool, but the same goes for holding a good DeWalt, Elu or Makita. I don't think the image of the brand radiates off on me to enhance my own image, and I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a Festool cap, put a Festool sticker on my car or paint my shop in Festool colours.

But sometimes it is nice to see other people's reactions to the tools. I was working with my neighbour the other day, an old man who had a 20 year old cordless Makita drill. He saw my T15 and C12, and started asking questions about them. He told me later that when I wasn't using them for a moment, he quickly took off and showed them to his wife and asked her if he could have one. She said, "No, you can't have a €600 drill because you're 90 and you'll never use it and only pass it on to your heirs". I must admit I was amused when he told me.

Holding a Festool DOES make me feel better, especially when I see the surprise and pleasure in my clients' eyes when they look at dead-straight, splinter-free cuts, smooth finishes, and note the absence of dust. That really makes me feel good!!!

Logged

- Willy -

"Remember, a chip on the shoulder is a sure sign of wood higher up." - Brigham Young

The complete "Festool experience" makes me feel better and somehow gives me more confidence to do stuff I haven't done before. It also is, to a large part, the fuel to the engine that continuously drives me to make something. Whenever I see/handle my tools, or handle some demo tools at a dealer there's immediately that little guy in my head that says: You should make something/ start on a DIY project.

I enjoy Festool power tools to an extent that is unmatched by any other power tool brand. Kinda like I enjoy my Snap-On hand tools so much more than others. It's not just performance, it's kinda like a mind - but an amazing, warm, fuzzy one.

And then, the tools are topped off by Festool's excellent communication with their customers - even with the smallest one like me.

I contacted Festool (Germany) 3 times so far on different topics, and each time I got a very timely reply - straight to the matter, professional and friendly. And most importantly, not the typical 1st/2nd level support copy paste text blocks stuff but a real reply obviously written by a real human being who knows the tools and brand. I was delighted.

And while I'm at it: It should be a shame for many, many companies that this can be considered something so scarce and out of the ordinary nowadays that I'm mentioning it here.

Last but definitely not least, the results I can achieve with Festool tools and the fact that I try for my results to meet the quality of the tools - which simply makes me work more accurate, but also, as already mentioned, makes me dare more and go further one step at a time.

Using Festool tools also got me dreaming again about the future and what I would like to achieve/make/do - which had gotten very rare in the meantime. At the same time it also got me questioning some life decisions I have made long ago - and proper self-reflection is never a bad thing because it helps to evolve - and evolving is great. Evolving eventually leads not only to feeling better but also to being better.

"...The article was about feeling good about being associated with the brand without having any conscious rationalization of why. ..."

How can I answer the question (does holding a Festool make you feel better about yourself?) if supposedly I don't even know I have been influenced (without having any conscious rationalization of why) by the tool?

I have always loved woodwork and enjoy it even more now that I have some lovely tools.

I used to hate the tedious repetition of cutting mortices (with a machine) and then have the equally tedious task of all the tenons. The Domino has solved that in one go.

Cutting sheet material on my tracksaw cutting station is simplicity itself and my TS55 continues to give excellent service despite having passed its 5th birthday.

My sanders do what they are supposed to do and I am not choking on dust. I still get super results from my Kapex which has also passed its 5th birthday.

With so many of my old tools there was no "trust" - I was constantly having to check that they were setup properly or make adjustments. When I take a tool out of a systainer I know it will deliver - every time.

I have been lucky enough to have had a ride in a Rolls Royce (many years ago and when I was hitchhiking !) and that was very special. I can imagine the owner felt rather good every time he drove that lovely machine. I think that the Festool experience is similar.